Rashid Khan-led Afghanistan cricket team defeated Papua New Guinea by 7 wickets in match 29 of the ongoing edition of the T20 World Cup 2024 which was being played at the Brian Lara Stadium in Trinidad, on June 14 (Friday). The Afghan side have sealed their spot in the Super 8 stage and with this victory have eliminated New Zealand from this mega tournament.
Afghan pacers rattle PNG
Afghanistan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi continued his ace performance in the ongoing tournament and picked up a three-wicket haul against PNG. He was well supported by Naveen-ul-Haq who also picked up 2 wickets. Noor Ahmed had a scalp in front of his name too. Apart from this, four run-outs allowed AFG to bowl out PNG on 95 runs.
AFG win match by 7 wickets
The Rashid Khan-led side did lose three early wickets but bounced back really well. Mohammad Nabi and Gulbadin Naib helped Afghanistan complete the chase without any further blows. This win also made them the fifth team after South Africa, Australia, India, and West Indies to qualify for the Super 8 stage.
Rashid Khan on qualifying for Super 8
Rashid Khan praised his players for the Super 8 qualification and even backed his openers for not performing in this game. He said they have been their key performers in the previous matches and today it allowed other batters to spend some time in the middle.
“Feeling great to qualifying for the next round. Great effort from the boys since game one. They know what they to do and have executed beautifully, making things easy for me. It is important to have someone like Gurbaz who goes out and takes on the bowling or Farooqi who picks up wickets in the powerplay. If the batter is attacking then as a bowler you have to attack too especially with pitches helping you. They (the openers) have given us good starts in the last two games and today was a good opportunity for the others to spend some time in the middle. We had a domestic competition before coming here and everyone are in form. That is the beauty of playing of franchise cricket as you know the conditions, some of them have played at St Lucia and know how the pitch will play which will help others. Everyone has the skill to adjust to any condition and hopefully, we will win that game (against WI) as well,” Rashid Khan said in the post-match presentation.
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